Hinata was there through it all, assisting her with a cheerful intensity I’d never seen before. She’d follow my demon self around all day, dispensing murder and mayhem in pursuit of whatever their current plan might be, and then climb eagerly into her bed at night. The demon who wore my body was alternately cruel and kind to her, sometimes teasing and affectionate, sometimes stern and demanding. To my shock Hinata lapped it up, and quickly began favoring her with the sort of look she’d previously reserved only for Naruto.
There were times when I wished it were me on the outside. I’d never been that interested in the bondage games Anko had introduced me to, being too used to seeing whips and chains as implements of real torture to get into the spirit of using them as toys. But this ‘badass alpha bitch’ role that my demon side had cast herself in struck a chord somewhere inside me. Seeing Hinata looking to me for direction, delivering violent retribution on anyone who tried to hurt her, giggling together over what we’d do to Naruto the next time we had a crossover — those moments were better than anything I’d managed in my own relationship with Hinata.
But my captor was ultimately a demon. A creature of elemental passions, most of them dark and violent, and possessed of all the subtly of a rampaging bijuu. Her casual cruelty and carelessness were usually directed outwards, but Hinata caught enough of it that it wasn’t long before I realized they were doomed in the long run. She enjoyed being dominant so much that she’d tear Hinata down just to feel superior, and that isn’t a good idea with someone who’s lived through the kind of hell my Hinata has. Eventually she’d either snap or break, and either would be a disaster.
That was when I realized that I had a deadline.
So I threw myself back into my work, going deeper and deeper into the meditative trance where my chakra senses were at their sharpest. The viewport that showed the outside world went silent when I closed my eyes, and my current state as a disembodied mind meant I didn’t exactly sleep, so I was free of interruptions in a way I’d never experienced before. I floated for endless days in the increasingly chilly darkness, searching further and further afield for a weakness I could exploit.
My prison was connected to my captor, as you’d expect from a permanent technique. Her chakra circulatory system was filled with the same black chakra, mixed with a bit of sullen blue that could pass for human life force if you didn’t look too close. The blue chakra flowed out from her soul just as you’d normally expect, but the black stuff was different. Its source was a well of darkness that plunged far, far beyond my reach, off into some unfathomable twisted region of summon-space.
The Nidhogg system, the memories I’d stolen from her identified. But I wasn’t sure what that meant. Apparently most of her power came from an outside source, some vast primal construct that acted as a computer, a communication system and a repository of… jutsu? Yes. She called them spells, but the concept was the same. So, it was some sort of giant seal engine, providing young demons with libraries of pre-built techniques and the power to use them. Was it possible to cut off her connection?
“Wake up, sleepyhead!”
I opened my eyes to see my opponent standing before me with a cheerful grin on her lips. Great.
“What do you want?” I asked grumpily.
She waved airily at the viewport, where a half-dressed Hinata was methodically demolishing one of those Hyuuga assassins that used to give us so much trouble. The hot spring resort where they were fighting was getting the worst of it, but it looked like Hinata had finally surpassed her father’s agents.
“Exhibit A,” demon-Sakura offered. “We do things my way, and now Hinata is totally into us. No backtalk, all the hot lesbian sex we want, and she’ll walk barefoot over broken glass to murder her own father for us if we tell her to. Much better than dancing around the issue until she figures out a way to maneuver us out of the picture, which is all your way was going to accomplish.”
I frowned. “Does she even have a choice, with you owning her soul?”
She laughed. “Free will clause, silly. Demon magic can’t control human minds, and that includes soul claims. No, she’s fallen for us because I give her what she needs. Passion, protection and purpose, the three keys to a woman’s heart.”
“It won’t last,” I countered. “It only seems to work because you use my sex techniques so much, and you’re already overdoing it. In a few months either you’ll have to pump up the intensity enough to cause brain damage, or she’ll wake up and start wondering why she’s doing this.”
My opponent rolled her eyes. “You’re just determined to be clueless, aren’t you? Fine, whatever, we’ve got all the time in the world. We’ll keep working on a way to stop the invasion, and maybe I’ll pick up another pet or two. You just let me know when you’re ready to admit that Hinata likes being wrapped around my finger.”
She left me in darkness again. I’ll admit I wasn’t eager to confront her claims, so I returned to my meditation instead. If I could just get free I could just ask Hinata why she seemed so happy being at my other self’s beck and call. Why she was so eager to please. So willing to be led. How someone so sharp and hard in battle could be so soft and compliant in bed.
Why I couldn’t quite decide which of them to be jealous of.
I really didn’t want to examine that thought any further, but if there’s one thing these repeated bouts of mental struggle have taught me it’s the value of being honest with myself. The little dominance games that were practically a way of life for Anko had never affected me like this. Was it because I have feelings for Hinata, where Anko was just a friendly acquaintance? Or was there something deeper amiss?
This time I turned my awareness inward, seeking any hint that the process that created my opponent had done something to my own mind as well. At a superficial level my chakra flows were normal enough, but if I could delve myself the way I’d done with other aspects perhaps I could find something.
It wasn’t easy, but I had plenty of time to practice. Eventually I found the trick of looking at myself from the outside, and dove in. My thoughts and memories swam around me in neatly organized patterns, just as they should. But there were gaps, places where parts of the pattern had been torn away and the rest was only beginning to recover. Scars from the trap that created my rival, and older marks from Naruto’s incautious jutsu.
I nudged a few of the more obvious items back into place, but it was a tiring process. After a timeless interval I decided this would be better done in small stages, and dove deeper. If there was some sort of demonic corruption seeping through my soul it would probably be at the hardest layer to reach, not the easiest.
I found the remains of my old mindscape next, broken trees and blackened vines lying in shriveled heaps like the debris left by a venomous typhoon. The demon killed everything she touched, and she didn’t even seem to realize it. I paused at the base of a sakura tree that had once soared high into the heavens, and shed a tear for lost companions.
“I will rebuild, someday” I promised myself. “I’ll never be content to let my soul be a place of desolation. And next time, I’ll find a way to keep this from happening. I never quite figured out what the trees and flowers and squirrels and fish all symbolized, but…it’s something precious. Something to protect, especially against opponents like this one. Next time I’ll have a defense for all of them.”
I dove again, into a place of warmth and darkness lit by the glow of distant stars. My missing warrior aspect floated there in the void, sleeping peacefully. In her arms slept a ghost with a warm smile and long pink hair, who looked an awful lot like the version of me that Naruto’s transformation had made. Was this another scar left by that encounter, or was our merger less complete than I’d thought?